5 - Messiah in other hands

Summary

The Foundling Hospital committee's reference to a score of Messiah being procured from Ireland so that the work could be performed ‘for the Benefit of other Persons’ provides a reminder that several performances were given under other auspices during Handel's lifetime: Handel apparently did not object to this, provided he had given his permission. In Dublin the Charitable Musical Society gave annual performances from 1744, and the score referred to in the Foundling Hospital minute was presumably one that Handel himself had supplied (or left behind) for the Society's use. As early as February 1744, Messiah was performed in London by the Academy of Ancient Music at their normal venue, the Crown and Anchor Tavern. In 1749, Messiah was performed in the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, as part of the musical celebrations accompanying the opening of the Radcliffe Camera: further Oxford performances followed in 1752 and 1754, and then regularly from 1756, either during the University's annual Commemoration of Benefactors or in the programmes of the musical society based at the Holywell Music Room. In 1750 Messiah reached Salisbury, with a performance in the New Assembly Room, followed by others in 1752 and 1765. A series of performances in the Bristol and Bath area began in 1755, and Messiah entered the repertory of the Three Choirs' Festival in 1757: for the first two years the Festival performances took place in ‘secular’ buildings as evening concerts, but in 1759 the performance at Hereford took place in the morning at the Cathedral.